


It's time to begin, isn't it? to move forward

by percyyoulittleshit



Series: Intertwined [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Is Sally and Percy bonding, Mother-Son Relationship, That's it, thats the story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 10:41:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25968334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/percyyoulittleshit/pseuds/percyyoulittleshit
Summary: August 18 has always been a day with complicated feelings for Percy, from the looming of a prophecy, to ending of a war, to becoming a couple with the love of his life. And now, when he is turning twenty-three comes another bittersweet emotion: moving out of his childhood home.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Series: Intertwined [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/727080
Comments: 6
Kudos: 86





	It's time to begin, isn't it? to move forward

The table was crowded and filled with laughter and different conversations going around. From Leo making Estelle laugh, Piper and Rachel discussing the best vegan restaurants they had been to, to Paul and Jason going on about some books Jason had been reading for his literature course, to Percy’s mom and Annabeth discussing possibilities about wedding stuff he should really pay more attention to. But Percy couldn’t focus on it, instead he was observing almost all the important people in his life gathered together to celebrate him. He wished Frank, Hazel and Grover had been able to come but Frank had Praetor business, Hazel was on some family trip with Nico, and last time he heard from him, Grover was on his way to the Amazonas to do some Lord of The Wild stuff. 

He felt Annabeth grab his hand under the table and squeeze it three times. It was a habit they had started after Tartarus, when their nightmares and panic attacks had been too much they couldn’t speak. It could mean _I love you_ , I am here, or _we are togethe_ r, just little reminders between them. From the way Annabeth was smiling at him and her eyes shining, he knew what it meant and mouthed ‘ _I love you_ ’ to her.

“Okay.” Rachel cleared her throat before standing up and raising her mimosa in the air. “To the birthday boy!” she cheered.

“To Percy!” his friends and family cheered in reply, everybody raised their glasses in the air, even little Estelle was holding her sippy cup in the air, giggling happily.

“And to the friends who were so helpful they also offered to help us unpack our new apartment!” Percy said teasingly.

“We’re only doing it because it means we get some of the cake your mom made,” Leo said.

“And cookies,” Sally added, laughing.

“Even better,” Jason said.

Rachel took a sip of her drink. “I’m your landlady, I’m already making you two a massive deal on the rent, why do I have to help?” 

“Because you’re my friend you jerk,” Percy said, winning a ‘ _language_ ’ from his mom. “And for all the times you made me pick up boxes filled with your art stuff.”

“You got me there,” Rachel said and Percy stuck his tongue out at her.

The conversation moved on around him, he nudged Annabeth with his shoulder getting her attention.

“Hey,” he said, grabbing his coke and raising it towards her. “To the last anniversary as boyfriend and girlfriend.”

Annabeth grabbed her drink. “Technically that was last year, _fiance_.” Annabeth laughed and winked at him.

“Fine.” Percy laughed. “To the last anniversary before our wedding.” They clicked their glasses and shared a quick kiss, getting a few catcalls from their friends. 

Brunch didn’t go on for much longer after that, once everybody was ready they left the restaurant and made their way outside. While Percy had been teasing about their friends helping them unpack, he had been grateful when they had actually offered. Annabeth and he had been living in the apartment for a few days now, and with their ADHD kicking in, they had barely made any advance in unpacking. One of the main reasons they had decided to have brunch at Penelope’s was because the restaurant was a few blocks away from their apartment building and the commute wouldn’t take that long.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come?” Annabeth asked him while everyone was regrouping on the sidewalk. “I don’t mind.”

Annabeth and their friends were going back to the apartment while Percy was going with his family to pick up the last boxes of his stuff from his old room. 

“Nah, it’s okay, it probably won’t take long,” Percy said at the same time his mom called him to follow them to the car, he kissed her forehead. “Make sure Leo doesn’t kill any of our electronics.”

“No promises!” Annabeth laughed.

***

He had been right, it hadn’t taken long to empty his room. There hadn’t been that many boxes left and between Paul and him, they had cleared his room faster than he thought, there was only one box left laying on the bed but Percy couldn’t find the strength to pick it up. It was a weird emotion seeing his room empty, he and his mom had moved into this apartment a decade ago, with the hopes of a better life, and it had taken a few quests and two wars but Percy had reached it, and so did his mom. Sally was loved and happy. She was finally making her dreams come true, publishing books and her latest book had even made it to the New York Times Best Seller list. And Percy, Percy couldn’t believe this was his life. He had graduated from Ithaca college, was going to start a pretty sweet job at the New York Aquarium, was engaged to the love of his life and they had a lease on a pretty good apartment in the city, never in his wildest dreams had he thought this could happen to him. 

He was happy, he truly was, he couldn’t wait to wake up every day next to Annabeth and for her to call him her husband and for all the memories they would make in their new home. But this room was also filled with memories, he had spent ten years of his life in this room. The blue walls that were once filled with posters and pictures were now bare, the night stand next to his bed that was always a mess was clean, his closet still held a little bit of his winter clothing, his mom had told him he could leave it there as long as necessary. But this room was no longer his, there was an ending in the air he hadn’t been prepared for, not even when his parents had been debating if they should make his room an office or give it to Estelle (the office had won, Sally and Paul weren’t comfortable with their five year old daughter having a fire escape staircase outside her window). Seeing his old room like this made him have an uneasiness in his chest, one that was so strong he had to sit down on his bed. 

“Are you okay, mijo?” 

Percy looked up to see his mom standing in the doorway, looking at him with concern.

“Yeah,” Percy said on instinct but Sally only raised an eyebrow at him, not falling for his lie. “I mean yeah but also no? It’s complicated.”

“I might know a thing or two about complicated stuff.” Sally walked towards him and sat down next to him. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

Percy opened his mouth but closed almost instantly, he wanted to talk but he wasn’t sure how to express his feelings when he wasn’t even sure what he was feeling. But Sally was his mother, after all, the only constant in his life for the last twenty-three years, for more than half of his life it had been the two of them against the world. She took his hand in hers, it was magic honestly, how just Sally holding him made him feel better.

“You will always be my flaco, my little boy.”

Percy smiled sadly at her. “I know, I just-” Percy took a deep breath. “I didn’t realize moving would be this bittersweet and I know it’s stupid-”

“Nothing you feel is stupid, Percy.” His mom said softly.

“I love Annabeth, mom, I truly do and I still can’t believe we are engaged and have our own place and I’m absolutely happy about it, like, I never thought it would happen but-” Percy felt a burning sensation in his throat and it took him a few seconds to finally find his voice again. “I didn’t think it would be this hard to say goodbye to this place, like I had barely been living here for the past four years but there’s a difference between packing for college and packing for good, you know?”

“If it were up to me I would love to have you here for the rest of my life but even if you are my baby, you are no longer a baby.” Sally chuckled sadly, a few tears appearing in her eyes and Percy could feel his starting to get blurry from tears. “But you are creating your own path and that includes leaving, and it’s heartbreaking for me but I can’t stop thinking about how happy it’s making you. When you told me you wanted to propose to Annabeth, mi niño, you were glowing and that’s all I want for you, to be happy and for you to be happy it means we have to be sad today. You know?”

“I feel guilty for feeling sad about leaving home.” Percy finally said the words that had been putting a weight on his heart since he had started packing up his old room a few weeks ago.

“Have you told Annabeth this?”

“I can’t,” Percy said, trying to hold back tears. “She’s so happy mom. I don’t think I have ever seen her this happy and excited, not even when she got to design Olympus, this is everything to her and I don’t want to ruin it.”

“If this were different, and she was feeling like this instead of you, would you like for her to keep it to herself and not talk to you about it?”

Percy chuckled faintly, his mom truly was the voice of reason. “No, she knows she can tell me anything.”

“And you can tell her anything, talking about your feelings wouldn’t put a burden on her happiness, especially when it’s something like this.” His mom started to play with his hair, and Percy felt like a little kid all over again, when his mom would embrace him during thunderstorms and tell him everything would be okay. “She is going to be your wife, Perce, she is absolutely crazy about you, I think it would hurt her more if you didn’t tell her how you were feeling.”

“She keeps saying I don’t have to be strong for her.”

“And she’s right, communication is key in every relationship and especially in a _marriage_.” 

Percy exhaled. “Why are the women in my life so smart?” 

“Because you’re lucky.” Sally booped his nose making him smile. “You’re starting a new chapter in your life, mijo, and that’s wonderful and I’m so excited to see what the future has in store for you, but it doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to feel sad about the chapter you’re closing.”

“I guess.” Percy nodded and pulled his mom in for a hug. “Do you think I can stop by on the weekend and we can make Caldo de Res together?”

“Oh Percy, of course, you can and I can ask Paul to take Estelle to the movies or something, does that sound good?”

Percy nodded against her mother’s shoulders, she smelled like cookies and vanilla and home, he felt a few traitorous tears slip from his eyes. He held his mom a little bit tighter before he ended the hug, once they pulled away he could see that both of them had tears in their eyes.

Sally wiped his tears away with her thumbs. “Remember when you would complain about how I was making caldo in the middle of summer? Well, look at you now.”

“Urgh, I can’t believe I am a señora now.” Percy chuckled while her mom laughed quietly. “Now Annabeth is the one that who’s going to complain about it.” 

Sally winked at him. “And soon, maybe, hopefully your kids will too?”

“ _Mom_!” Percy groaned. “Don’t even.”

“I’m not getting younger Perseus!” Sally laughed at him and Percy shook his head at her, a smile on his lips. 

“Let me get married first.”

“And then I can have grandkids?”

“Oh my gods, _mamá_! You have a five-year-old daughter, is that not enough?”

Sally playfully pushed her shoulder against his. “I guess, for now.”

“Besides I need Estelle to be old enough to use her as a free babysitter.” Percy winked at his mom. “Payback for all the times I had to babysit her.”

“Don’t even think you’re done babysitting her, young man.” 

“Nope, I don’t live here anymore, I’m free of my duties.”

“The hell you are,” Sally joked. “I guess I’ll have to drop her off at your place then.”

They both laughed for a little bit before Sally sighed, the playful tone in her voice was nowhere to be found when she spoke again. 

“Your own place, that you share with your fiancée.” Sally cupped his face with her hands, tears starting to fall from her eyes and there was a hint of sadness in her smile. “Mi bebé ya no es un bebé.”

Percy rested his hand against hers. “I will always be your baby boy, mom.”

“Yes you will.” Sally patted his cheeks gently before standing up and wiping her tears with her fingers. “Come on, they’re waiting for us and there is a perfectly good birthday cake waiting for you.”

Sally stood up and started walking towards the door. Percy took a deep breath and grabbed the last box, before taking one last look at his bare room. A new chapter was waiting for him to start, just like his mom said, this was not an ending, this was just another step in his life, one he was taking with the love of his life.

“And Percy?” Sally said and Percy turned around to face her. His mom was resting against the doorframe, smiling at him. “This will always be your home.”

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on tumblr as perseannabeth


End file.
